The New Chronicles of the Venture Company

13th Day of the Fading, 786 Nerathi Era, Continued

20

NOV/10

Bahamut’s Balls! Why can’t anything ever be simple? When I last wrote in this journal, I was feelin’ the pain of a minor wound. Now I’m going to have the scars of frozen dragon teeth trying to bite me in half! Still, ended up alright. We’re all alive and resting. That weird girl is staring at a silver chain with crystals dangling from it, and mumbling. Magic? Some kinda elf magic journal, she says.
Well, for the record, the Skull Chucker Clan is gone from Kobold Hall. We killed their priest and their god. We let one of the priest’s guards leave, to tell his clan what happened. Maybe it’ll put the fear of Erathis into ‘em, keep the little bastards from raiding for a time. The weird girl took the priest’s magic staff…I think she likes how it jingles.
And then there was the dragon. Young one, only just away from his parents. His human shape couldn’t have been more than fourteen. I feel a little guilty, but there was no other way. When we tried to negotiate, the boy accused us of working for a necromancer. He was trying to kill us before we could say so much as “What necromancer, ye daft frostwrym?” It was a team effort, Shallahai and myself keeping his attention while the others wore him down. It was a long battle, in which the tree-lass and I came far too close to death for my liking.
A long battle, but that wasn’t the worst. We finally found the blasted Verdantis relic, AND a letter from someone we’re guessing is the necromancer. Kalarel, his name is. We only barely got his name, though…the scroll was enspelled, and opened a mouth to speak, which hid its words. That, and the words it spoke were unnatural sounds that warped space into summoning some vile tentacly abominations. I hate abominations, they make me axe smell funny.
Bit of luck. The dragon was a mage. While we were all digging into his treasure, the weird girl was flipping through his books of magic. Turns out, she’s a gods-damned genius. Took the dragon’s research on magic items, and enchanted Tana’s crossbow. That’ll be handy.
Yet, we remain alive. After a short rest, we will begin our march back to Fallcrest.